Aeschylus, son of Euphorion of the deme of Eleusis (Eleusis, 525 BC \u2013 Gela, 456 BC), was an ancient Greek\nplaywright.
\nHe is universally regarded as the founder of Greek tragedy in its mature form.
\nHe is the earliest tragic poet of ancient Greece whose complete works have survived.
\nBorn into a noble family, he witnessed firsthand many key moments in the history of Athens, including the fall\nof the tyranny of the Pisistratids in 510 BC.
\nHe personally fought against the Persians at Marathon (490 BC), where his brother Cynegeirus fell in battle, at\nSalamis (480 BC), and at Plataea (479 BC). The most famous of his tragedies is the *Oresteia*, a trilogy consisting\nof *Agamemnon*, *The Libation Bearers*, and *The Eumenides*, with which Aeschylus won the Great\nDionysia in 458 BC.
\nThe tragedies that compose it represent a single story divided into three episodes, rooted in the mythological\ntradition of ancient Greece.
\nThe first, entitled *Agamemnon*, recounts the murder of the king upon his return from the Trojan War, plotted\nby his wife Clytemnestra with the help of Aegisthus, in order to avenge the sacrifice of their daughter Iphigenia.
\nAgamemnon, king of Argos, before departing for the Trojan War, lacked favorable winds; therefore, on the\nadvice of the seer Calchas, he sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to appease the gods.
\nThe winds then became favorable; however, Clytemnestra resolved to avenge her daughter\u2019s sacrifice by killing\nher husband together with Aegisthus, Agamemnon\u2019s cousin and her lover.
\nThe passage belongs to the fourth episode of *Agamemnon* and coincides with the famous prophetic speech\nof Cassandra.
\nThe scene takes place before the royal palace of Argos, where Cassandra, Trojan princess and prophetess of\nApollo, has arrived as a war prize of the victorious king; however, as the myth dictates, she is condemned to\nprophesy without ever being believed.
\nIn this episode Cassandra, seized by a vision, recalls the past crimes of the House of Atreus\u2014particularly the\nmurder of Thyestes\u2019 children and their gruesome banquet\u2014and at the same time foretells the imminent assassination\nof Agamemnon by Clytemnestra, who is portrayed as a monstrous and demonic figure, the symbol of a\ndistorted and violent justice, so much so that she is compared to Scylla.<\/p>\n
CASSANDRA:<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cAlas, alas! Ah, misery, misery!\nTerribly within me once again
\nthe prophetic torment whirls,
\nshaking me with its mournful preludes.
\nDo you see those children seated within the house,
\nlike phantoms of dreams?
\nThey are children, children slain by their own kin.
\nThey stretch forth hands filled with entrails and flesh,
\nwretched burden, dreadful feast!
\nTheir father partakes of them. Someone, I foretell it,
\nplots their vengeance: a cowardly
\nlion of the household, sprawling
\nwithin the bedchambers against my lord,
\nfor whom I bear the yoke of servitude.
\nThe commander of the fleet, he who destroyed
\nIlium, knows not what ruin she prepares for him,
\nshe who, smiling in her heart, with deadly fate,
\nlike invincible Ate, with endless
\nbabbling, the tongue of a hateful bitch!
\nSo great is her daring! A woman kills a man.
\nBy what name of loathsome monster
\nmight I rightly call her? Amphisbaena,
\nScylla lurking among the rocks, destruction
\nof sailors? A demon of Hades,
\nwho from its jaws breathes upon its own
\nrelentless war? Ah, shameless creature!
\nHow she howled! As though at an enemy\u2019s flight!
\nAnd she seemed to rejoice that her husband
\nhad returned safe! Oh well, whether they believe me
\nor not is all the same! The event draws near.
\nThrough deeds you shall soon see whether I am
\na true prophetess of disaster.
\nThen you will pity me.\u201d.<\/i><\/p>\n
In this passage Cassandra speaks as though overwhelmed, and her words seem violently shaken.
\nThe murder of Agamemnon appears to her as a monstrous violation of the human order, so much so that\nClytemnestra can no longer be called a woman; the prophetess therefore tries to assign her a name capable of\nembodying more fully the horror she represents, seeking it in the realm of the unnameable.
\nShe asks:<\/p>\n
\u201cBy what name of loathsome monster might I rightly call her? Amphisbaena,
Scylla lurking among the rocks,\ndestruction of sailors?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
To name her, Cassandra seeks a name equal to the horror and finds it among the primordial monsters; among\nthem, Scylla stands out.
\nThe reference to Scylla carries immense symbolic force because it unites myth with a real geographical place:\nthe treacherous rock at the entrance to the Strait of Messina, which deceives and destroys sailors.
\nClytemnestra is thus assimilated to a hidden Scylla, \u201clurking\u201d within the house just as Scylla lurks \u201camong the\nrocks,\u201d an immobile predator who slaughters those who enter with confidence.
\nThe royal palace thus becomes a deadly passage, and Agamemnon a ship doomed to destruction.<\/p>\n<\/div>
Giuseppe Ribuffo<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/i>Next page: 84. Emily Lowe, Helpless Women in Calabria, Sicily, and on the Summit of Etna, 1859<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1903,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1381","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nEschilo - Discover Scilla<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/en\/eschilo-orestea\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eschilo - Discover Scilla\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/en\/eschilo-orestea\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Discover Scilla\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-19T08:31:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/83-hans-iverio-scilla-1024x855.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"855\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/eschilo-orestea\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/eschilo-orestea\\\/\",\"name\":\"Eschilo - Discover Scilla\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/eschilo-orestea\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/eschilo-orestea\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/83-hans-iverio-scilla.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-23T09:19:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-19T08:31:09+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/eschilo-orestea\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/eschilo-orestea\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/eschilo-orestea\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/83-hans-iverio-scilla.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/83-hans-iverio-scilla.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":2138},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/eschilo-orestea\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Eschilo\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Discover Scilla\",\"description\":\"Scopri territorio, storia e racconti di questa magica terra\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Discover Scilla\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/logo-discover-scilla.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/logo-discover-scilla.png\",\"width\":481,\"height\":250,\"caption\":\"Discover Scilla\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Eschilo - Discover Scilla","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/en\/eschilo-orestea\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Eschilo - Discover Scilla","og_url":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/en\/eschilo-orestea\/","og_site_name":"Discover Scilla","article_modified_time":"2026-08-19T08:31:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":855,"url":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/83-hans-iverio-scilla-1024x855.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"10 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/eschilo-orestea\/","url":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/eschilo-orestea\/","name":"Eschilo - Discover Scilla","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/eschilo-orestea\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/eschilo-orestea\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/83-hans-iverio-scilla.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-23T09:19:56+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-19T08:31:09+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/eschilo-orestea\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/eschilo-orestea\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/eschilo-orestea\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/83-hans-iverio-scilla.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/83-hans-iverio-scilla.jpg","width":2560,"height":2138},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/eschilo-orestea\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Eschilo"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/","name":"Discover Scilla","description":"Scopri territorio, storia e racconti di questa magica terra","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/#organization","name":"Discover Scilla","url":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/logo-discover-scilla.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/logo-discover-scilla.png","width":481,"height":250,"caption":"Discover Scilla"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1381"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2622,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1381\/revisions\/2622"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}